For Such a Time as This
by Jeanniefan78
Summary: Kate receives some very unexpected and frightening news following an accident at work.
1. Chapter 1

**FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS**

**Written by Jeanniefan78/April**

**Author's Note:** _This was written for flootzavut/Sarah for the NFA WEE 2014 exchange. Also, this will be a bit of a sequel to the NFA Secret Santa 2013 story I wrote for her, "The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship"._

**Prompt: **_"Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery." ~ Annie Dillard_

"_There's a mystery lurking at NCIS that has the potential to seriously disrupt the lives of one or more of the MCRT when it surfaces unexpectedly. Is it natural or supernatural? Fascinating or terrifying? Should they fear for their jobs - or their lives?"_

It has been a rough few months for Kate. She received devastating news a few weeks before Christmas when her father was diagnosed with colon cancer. Although she came through some rough years with her parents when they divorced, she still couldn't help but feel some guilt over her anger with them.

Gibbs was kind enough to give her some time off to go and spend time with her father. She spent a couple of weeks with him after his surgery. It was a precious time for both of them, and neither one of them would have traded it for anything.

Feeling confident that her father was doing well enough, she returned home, only to encounter a crisis of her own.

"Oww…," Kate moans in pain, with her hand on her head, as she awaits treatment in an emergency room treatment area. She felt sure Gibbs was gonna flip out on her for not exercising better safety on that ladder.

"Excuse me, Ms. Todd," a nurse says, poking her head in the doorway. "There's an Agent Gibbs out in the waiting area."

"Send him in. And may I please have something for pain?"

"I'll check with your doctor."

"Oh man, Gibbs is gonna kill me," Kate groans.

"No, if anything, he's gonna kill me for not leaving you alone on that ladder," Tony says.

"Oh, for Pete sake, I…"

"Kate," Gibbs says, coming in briskly. "Are you alright?"

"Other than having a baseball size knot on my head and soreness all over my body, yeah, I'm great," Kate says.

"What the heck happened here?," Gibbs asks, looking back and forth between Kate and Tony.

"I got an evidence box off the shelf and I displaced another box in the process. I handed Tony the box I got off the shelf and then, climbed back up the ladder to reposition the one I displaced. It was slightly out of reach, so I stood on my tippie toes on my right foot to reach it, and I barely did, but I managed to reposition the box. Then, somehow, coming off my tippie toes and putting my left foot back down on the ladder, I missed the step, fell down off the ladder, flipped it, and I hit my lead on the shelf."

Gibbs ducked his head and sighed. "And where were you, DiNozzo?"

"Boss, I…"

"Don't blame him, Gibbs. I sent him on ahead of me out of lock-up. I'm sorry, I should've…"

"What have I told you about apologies?," he interrupts.

Kate rolls her eyes without answering. "Oww…," she groans.

"Okay, Ms. Todd," the nurse says, entering Kate's room. "I have your pain medicine."

"DiNozzo…," Gibbs says, motioning to Tony to step out outside the curtain.

"Boss, I really…"

"Just stop, DiNozzo. I know it wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault."

Tony nods. Although grateful to have Gibbs acknowledge that, he still felt somewhat responsible.

"Okay," the nurse says, sweeping the curtain aside.

Gibbs's phone rings. "Yeah…Gibbs…Alright…Thanks, McGee." He closes his phone.

"DiNozzo, go back to headquarters and get McGee. He got a BOLO back on Staff Sgt. Wilkins' car. I'm staying here with Kate."

"Got it, Boss."

"I'll be fine, Gibbs. You can go on ahead with Tony."

"Not an option, Kate."

Tony leaves and Kate prepares for the behind chewing of her life. Although she wasn't looking at Gibbs, she could feel him staring a hole right through her.

"So," she says, breaking the silence. "You gonna read me the riot act or not?"

"No," he says, calmly. "I think that bump on your head did that already."

She scoffs and he chuckles, slightly.

"Besides, it wasn't your fault. It was just an accident. I'm just glad you're okay," he says, looking at her, lovingly.

She very lightly grins and then, starts drifting off to sleep.

A little while later, she is startled awake as the doctor knocks and enters. Her blood, urine, and x-rays are all fine, but her CT scan shows a mild concussion. She is told rest will be the key and not to return to work for at least three days.

"And definitely stay off of ladders for a while."

"I will. Thank you, doctor."

Within a couple of minutes, the nurse brings in her discharge paperwork and a wheelchair. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, but I don't need a wheelchair. I can walk out," she says, getting up off the bed.

"Kate, play it safe. Get in the wheelchair," Gibbs says.

"Gibbs, I'm fine. I don't need a wheelchair."

"Do you want me to handcuff you, Agent Todd?"

"Yeah, I'd like to see you pull that off," she pops off.

Gibbs pulls his handcuffs out of his back pocket, holds them up to her, and gives her the Gibbs stare.

Kate glares at him.

The nurse turns her head and snickers quietly.

"Fine." She eases her way into the wheelchair with Gibbs's help.

"You really are a bull head, you know that?," she says to Gibbs as the nurse begins to wheel her out.

Gibbs grins, slightly. "I know."

So, off she goes to recover from a simple bump on the head…or so she thinks.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note**: _I want to thank everyone who subscribed to this story to be alerted when I updated. I want to apologize to everyone who got an alert that I had updated the other night. After thinking about it, I went back and deleted the new chapter because I just couldn't get away from not liking it and I felt I really needed to redo parts of it. So, I apologize if you want to read it and got a dead link and that's why. : )_

_Thank you to everyone for reading. Now, on with the story. : )_

After three days, Kate followed up with her regular physician. But three days didn't quite cut it, as far as the doctor was concerned. He wanted her to rest a few more days, and then she could return to work. Although disappointed, she complied with his instructions.

Abby stayed with her for the first couple of days to make sure she was okay. Gibbs constantly checked on her. The whole team sent her flowers and a get well card. Everyone was wonderful.

However, Kate decided not to tell her family about her unfortunate ordeal. She didn't want to worry them, especially her father. He was doing well enough, considering, and she was not about to add any stress and make things worse, not for a simple bump on the head.

By the time she returned to work, she had been out of work for a week. On the morning of her return, she couldn't get out of her apartment fast enough. She was greeted with lots of "hello's" and "are you okay?" greetings, to which she replied she was fine and just ready to get back in the swing of things. After being back for a couple of days, you'd never have known anything had happened to her…that is, until her head started spinning.

It wasn't bad at first. She'd be up walking around her apartment or down a hallway at work, and she'd feel a little dizzy. She'd steady herself on a wall, a piece of furniture, or a doorway; she'd stand still for a few seconds and she was fine.

But it got worse.

One day, as the team is finishing up with a crime scene, Kate begins to feel a major dizzy spell coming on. As they are all walking to the car, she stops in her tracks.

"Kate?," Tony says, noticing she doesn't look well. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I uh… I…" She staggers sideways and falls to the ground.

Gibbs, Tony, and McGee all rush to her side, as do Palmer and Ducky in the seeing the commotion.

"Kate…," Gibbs says, worriedly.

"I'm fine," she says, sitting up. "I just got a little dizzy."

"Duck, take a look at her, would you?"

"Of course. Let's get her over…"

"Don't worry about me," she interrupts. "I'll be fine."

"This isn't a request," Gibbs says, helping her up and over to the car.

"Caitlin," Ducky says, looking her over. "How long have you been having these dizzy spells?"

"Just a little while."

"Why didn't you say something?," Gibbs asks.

"Because I didn't think it was a big deal. So I got a little dizzy."

"A little?," Gibbs asks.

"Okay, a lot. But…well, this is the worst it's been so far."

"Caitlin, I think you may be suffering from something called post concussion syndrome. It happens to a lot of people after they sustain a concussion. But I would highly suggest you confirm that with your regular doctor to be safe."

"But, what can be done about it if that's what it is?"

"Well, unfortunately all you can do is treat the symptoms. They'll usually subside over a period of time."

From there, Kate takes Ducky's advice and goes to see her doctor. She's relieved when her doctor concurs with Ducky's opinion. Her doctor also states that not everyone who suffers from this exhibits the same symptoms. To be on the safe side, her doctor schedules her for an MRI to make sure nothing else is going on.

Kate isn't too worried about it, but nothing could have prepared her for what the results would show.

"Agent Todd," she answers her phone while at work. "Yes, doctor…Okay…I can probably come in tomorrow, but can't you tell me my results now?…Please, just tell me…" Her face falls. "W-What?…O-Okay…Alright…Thank you…"

McGee watches on, concerned. "Is everything okay?"

"Uh…Yeah. Everything's….Excuse me." She gets up from her desk and runs away.


	3. Chapter 3

Later at home that night, Kate sits in silence, thinking. She hadn't wanted to tell her family about her accident, but given the frightening news she had received earlier in the day, she feels she has no choice but to fess up. This was no longer just a bump on the head, even though the possibility of an aneurysm wasn't even related to her accident. She was now facing something life threatening. Her doctor had told her they would need to do an MRA scan to know for sure whether or not what they saw on the MRI was an aneurysm or not.

Given that, she decides to tell only her parents and stepparents. She finally picks up her phone, takes a deep breath, and dials her mother and stepfather. After them, her father and stepmother. They all took the news about as well as one could expect in hearing such news, especially about their own child.

After hanging up with them, she feels a sense of relief, but she also knows in her heart that there is one other person she needs to talk to. So, once again, she takes a deep breath, flips her phone open, dials a number, and hits send.

"Yeah…Gibbs," she hears on the other end.

"Gibbs, we need to talk."


	4. Chapter 4

Within a couple of days, Kate has her MRA scan. Now comes the hardest part…waiting. But oddly enough, she finds herself at peace.

"This seat taken?"

Kate looks up from the bench near the coffee stand in the Navy yard, to a familiar face.

"Oh… Hey, Gibbs."

"Here." He hands her a cup of coffee.

"Thanks," she says, graciously accepting the cup. "How'd you know I was out here?"

"I didn't. I was getting some coffee and I saw you sitting over here."

"Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just been thinking about things."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm okay… I… Well, it's kind of hard to put into words. I guess… I'm not gonna lie; this having a possible aneurysm scares the heck out of me. But, I've realized , when tough times come, they don't happen to us, they happen for us. Perhaps my accident was a blessing in disguise. If I have an aneurysm, maybe something can be done about it. Whether I have one or not, I'm not gonna give up. And with all the tough things my family and I have been through, I realize how blessed I am to have what I have." She slightly gasps as tears begin to flow.

Gibbs reaches over with his left hand to rub her back.

"And I hope I can take what I've been through to help others in some way," she says through her tears and then, wipes tears off of her face.

"You're an extraordinary person, Katie."

She smiles through her tears.

"I mean it. You want to make a difference and you do." He takes her right hand with his left hand. "You've made a difference in my life."

She smiles through her tears and squeezes his hand. "Thank you… And you have in mine… I really appreciate you being there for me."

"My pleasure, Katie."

She lovingly smiles at him. "You're quite a man."

He squeezes her hand. "Thank you."

He reaches out to her for a hug and she gladly reciprocates. He doesn't want the moment to end, but it becomes painfully obvious that it's time to get back to work.

He breaks the hug and stands up to leave. "I, uh… I better get back inside."

"Okay. I'll be along in a few minutes. Thanks again."

"Anytime, Katie." He starts to turn to walk away, but feels a tug in his heart. He looks back down at her. After a couple of seconds more, he bends down to her and whispers something in her ear.

Her eyes widen slightly. Did she hear him right?

He pulls back and sees the speechless look on her face. He grins at her, kisses her forehead, and walks away.

She sits there for a couple of more minutes, still stunned. Then, she breaks down, crying.

…...

Later that evening, Kate lies on the couch in her living room, still stunned and reeling over what Gibbs had whispered in her ear earlier that day. She had been sensing something different between them since Christmas, but wasn't quite sure if she should dare to even believe what she was sensing, and now, after hearing him say what he did, she knows deep within her heart, that it's right.

She sits up, picks up her phone off the coffee table, flips it open, and dials a number. She takes a deep breath as she hears the phone on the other end start to ring.

"Yeah..Gibbs."

"Hey, Gibbs."

"Hi," he says, obviously pleased to hear her voice.

"I was, um… I…"

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I… I'm more than alright, actually. I, uh… Gibbs, I… I love you, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," she says, smiling. She pauses briefly. "I, uh… I didn't say anything earlier because I was so stunned. I… I had trouble finding my voice." She chuckles slightly.

He chuckles. "I understand… I've loved you for a long time, Katie, but I just didn't know how to tell you. Then with everything that's happened lately, I knew I couldn't go on any longer without telling you how I really feel about you. I knew the moment was right… I love you, Katie. I love you."

"I love you, too."

Gibbs grins.

"So… What do we do now?"

"Well… If you're not too tired, I could come get you and we could go get a coffee or something. Then, maybe we could go for a short walk."

"I'd like that."

"Alright, then. I'm on my way."

"Okay," she says with a smile.

…...

It was now official. Gibbs and Kate were an item and they couldn't be happier. They put her in for a transfer to another field team at the Navy yard that needed someone, and they just had to wait about a week for it to go through.

To top all that off, Kate got her MRA results back-she had no aneurysm. It was just a smudge they saw on her MRI.

It was indeed a time for celebration.

**THE END**

©2014 By Jeanniefan78/April*No part of this story may be performed or reproduced in any way, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the author.

*All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. Some characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated or affiliated with the owners, creators, cast, crew, or producers of NCIS or any media franchise. This is strictly for fan enjoyment only. No copyright infringement is intended.


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